The tail rotor of a helicopter came apart from the aircraft as it flew over Newgrange yesterday morning, witnesses have said.
The helicopter went out of control and crashed close to the megalithic burial chamber at Newgrange.
The pilot and three passengers, who were working on a BBC documentary at the Meath site, were on board when the Bell 206 four-seater craft went out of control just after 8 a.m.
Witnesses told gardaí that the rotor on the tail of the helicopter came away and it was visible about 150 feet from where the helicopter landed.
The helicopter was between 100 and 200 feet above ground when the rotor and a portion of the tail broke away and gardaí said the pilot and passengers had had "a very lucky escape."
At the time of the accident, a cameraman and soundman were recording the presenter of the BBC documentary as he walked around the top of the mound and the helicopter was flying around the monument. Another member of the documentary team was also in the helicopter.
It crashed around a quarter of a mile from the front of Newgrange. The pilot was commended for ensuring no one approached the craft while the propellers were moving.
Fire brigade personnel from Drogheda and emergency medical technicians and gardaí from Drogheda and Navan attended the scene and the pilot and two of the passengers were taken by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. The third passenger was unhurt.
The soundman was discharged yesterday afternoon while tests were continuing on the cameraman. The pilot was admitted with injuries that were said not to be life-threatening.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport confirmed that the members of the Air Accident Investigations Unit were on site about 50 minutes after the crash. They will take the helicopter to a facility at Gormanstown for examination.